Changing the Score
by UnimaginableImagination
Summary: Naruto found out he was going to be on Sasuke's team and decided to change that. By studying. It worked, and now he's on a different team. But how will this change the life everyone's favourite Number #1 Hyperactive, Knuckle-head ninja? Rated M for language and possible future situations. NaruHina.
1. Chapter 1 - Time to Cram!

**Changing the Score**

**Disclaimer: This is a story idea that I've been mulling around in my head for a while now, and I finally decided to do something about it. It's basically a butterfly effect story, so lets see what I can do with it. The premise is that Naruto didn't totally fail his exam, and what would happen with the storyline if he didn't. Keep in my mind that this is my first proper fanfic, so if it's a bit unpolished then that's why.**

**Oh yeah, and I don't own Naruto, unfortunately. I apparently have to say that, which is a heavy burden on my mind and soul.**

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Chapter One: Time to Cram!

One Uzumaki Naruto walked into the classroom with his chin held high and his Konoha forehead protector proudly in its place on his head, earning a few questioning looks from the people already in there. A lazy looking boy with his hair in a pineapple fashion spoke up as Naruto passed him on his way down to his desk, "Hey Naruto, why are you here? This is only for people that graduated."

Naruto turned to him and grinned, flicking the metal plate tied to his head and producing a pinging noise. "See this Shikamaru? This means that I graduated, and that I have just as much right to be here as any of you." Naruto said with pride. Shikamaru was about to question him on how he graduated but seemingly thought better of it and slumped back down on his desk.

"Maa, too troublesome. I don't care. Now let me sleep." Naruto looked down on Shikamaru's prone form with a twitching eye as small snoring noises emanated from him, before shrugging and continuing on up to his usual seat next to Sasuke. He gave the boy a scowl, which was returned with a classic "Hn." Oh, he was so glad that he wasn't going to be on Sasuke's team anymore or else he might wind up having to kick his duck-butt ass. Or he could always do it anyway. That could work.

Naruto had turned his attention to the doorway in boredom just a girl with pretty lavender hair walked into the classroom and habitually panned her eyes down to his desk, expecting to see no-one, only to gasp at the sight of Naruto sitting at his desk seemingly looking up at her, 'Naruto-kun passed after all! I'm so happy for him! Maybe… maybe I'll get to be on a team with him…' Hinata's face turned beet-red at the thought of being on the same team as Naruto and she started to push her fingers together, looking down and away from Naruto lest he see her face. However this didn't stop the object of her thoughts noticing the colouration of her face and shouting down to her with concern, completely oblivious to the nature of her thoughts.

"Hey Hinata, are you okay? Your face suddenly changed colour." Hinata's head snapped upwards at his shouting, and she looked at him for a second with her blush turning even darker before fainting and hitting the ground with a thud, causing Naruto's eyes to widen with shock before he vaulted over his desk to the floor to see if she was alright.

Quickly checking her pulse and confirming she was alright and only knocked out (Thank Kami), his fingers in front of her face a few times to see if he could get a reaction, and when he didn't Naruto picked up the unconscious Hyuuga heiress bridal-style and called her name a few times. Sighing to himself when he saw she was out cold, Naruto walked back up the stairs and placed her down in her seat carefully, checking her over once more before turning back to go to his own. At least that was the plan until a female voice shouted out behind him.

"Ha, take that Ino-pig I got here first!"

Naruto turned his attention to the door where a pink haired girl was standing, panting and out of breath. As he watched, Yamanaka Ino barged into her back as a blur of purple and blonde hair, sending them both sprawling to the ground at his feet. They both immediately got to their feet and started jostling their way and pushing their way down the stairs, completely blanking Naruto even as he stepped forward eagerly to greet Sakura, his long time crush.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Hey I was wondering, since we're both genin now, how about you and me go on a date sometime?"

Sakura didn't even stop in her wrestling with Ino as she answered, "As if Naruto!" She shouted while at the same time shoving the blonde boy out of the way. Sakura's push did next to nothing to him, but Naruto stepped back anyway, a hurt look on his face.

Naruto turned away as the girls finally got to Sasuke and started fawning, as per usual. He sighed as he sat down in an empty seat next to Hinata, who was still out cold. 'I don't get why they like that teme so much. Oh well, at least I'm not gonna be on a team with him anymore. Sakura-chan still will be though, seeing as how she graduated as top kunoichi…' Naruto thought back to the conversation with Iruka that led him to this point.

_(Flashback)_

**Around One Week Earlier**

_Naruto and Iruka were currently situated inside of Ichiraku Ramen, respectively eating said ramen energetically and watching in despair, because Iruka had said that he would take Naruto out for ramen after his latest stunt. The reason Iruka was watching in despair was because he had promised to pay for Naruto, this was his_ fifteenth_ bowl of ramen, and Naruto showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. Oh, his wallet was going to be hurting for sure after this._

_"Ne, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto momentarily looked up from attacking his bowl as a thought struck him, getting Iruka to sigh in relief before his attention was fully captivated by Naruto's question, "What team do you reckon I'll be on when I pass the exam?"_

_The question momentarily caught Iruka by surprise, "What, you mean who will you be with on your team?" Naruto nodded and looked at him expectantly, 'Hmm… I really shouldn't tell him this but I can't just not answer…'"Well Naruto, I couldn't tell you who your jounin-sensei will be, but there's a long-standing tradition that the Dead-last of the year will be paired with the Rookie of the Year and the top kunoichi, so if you pass you'll be with-"_

_"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto exclaimed, standing up without warning and surprising Teuchi and Ayame behind the counter, "Oh, no way, I am not being with Sasuke on a team, nuh-uh, nope, never!" He said vehemently. He was smart enough to realise that he was on track to be the dobe of the year, and Naruto was sure that the fan-girls would stage an uprising if Sasuke didn't get top spot._

_Naruto turned to Iruka with big, quivering eyes, "Iruka-sensei, is there anyway and can not be on Sasuke-teme's team?" There had to be a way. If he was stuck on a team with Sasuke then… well, he didn't know what would happen, but it would certainly be bad._

_Iruka just stared at Naruto and opened his mouth as if to speak before Naruto suddenly pounded his fist into his palm, "That's it! I'll just have study more and ace the final exam next week, dattebayo! Sorry Iruka-sensei, I gotta get home and study! Bye Teuchi-ojisan, Ayame-neesan!" And with that he quickly slurped down the last of his ramen before running off out of the restaurant._

_Iruka let off a sweatdrop as he watched Naruto recede into the night, 'He does realise that Sakura is probably going to be the top kunoichi of the year doesn't he? Doesn't he like her or something?' With a sigh he turned back to the counter and got out his wallet, looking up at the ramen chef behind it, "So how much do I owe you, Ichiraku-san?" Upon hearing the amount Iruka visibly deflated and simply tipped out the entire contents of his wallet into Teuchi's waiting hand before walking out._

_XxX_

_Naruto had gotten home to his apartment in record time, panting slightly he had run so fast as he flopped down on his bed. Why had he decided to get home so fast again, away from his ramen? He pushed himself off the bed explosively, ending up standing on it as he remembered. He had to study so he wouldn't end up with Sasuke!_

_With that thought in mind, Naruto jumped off his bed and opened his closet. Behind the unnecessary amount of orange jumpsuits in there lay an old frayed box, which Naruto grabbed and hefted out, coughing from the dust that billowed up as he did so. Dropping the box on the floor with a clunk, Naruto plopped down next to it and opened it, revealing its contents._

_Inside the box was a mess of scrolls, each labelled with different subjects from the Academy. Iruka had given these to Naruto for revision, so of course Naruto stuck them in a box in the back of his closet, never to see the light of day. Until now._

_Picking up and opening the first scroll in the box Naruto read the title out loud, "Basic Language Studies. Pfft, I don't need this, I can speak just as gooder as anyone else.' Realising what he had just said, Naruto looked down at the scroll in his hands again, 'Hmm, maybe I should start with this one then."_

_He would study, and he would study hard, And Kami help him, by the end of the week Naruto Uzumaki would be the dobe no longer!_

**_One Week Later_**

_Naruto sat at his desk and cracked his knuckles as the written part of the genin exam was handed out, 'Aright, lets hope all that studying didn't go waste. I'll ace this and then the practical part of this exam, dattebayo!'_

_Naruto hadn't been out of his house except for school, food and visits to his grandfather figure, the Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, all through the past week. He had raced through those long-forgotten revision scrolls as quickly as he thought he was able while retaining the knowledge, and had actually gotten through a decent chunk of them before the test. Never let it be said that Naruto Uzumaki was not a hard worker when he wanted to be. He had found out that there was so much he had neglected to learn when he had either been skipping school or sleeping through Iruka's lectures, and some of it was actually useful, like the physical and spiritual aspects of chakra, and like which plants were deadly poisonous to humans in Hi no Kuni._

_Yeah… that could have been bad._

_When he had actually been to school, Naruto had paid full attention to class, even taking notes at points, which had surprised quite a few of the teachers and students, except for Iruka. When he saw Naruto was actually paying attention to his lectures in class Iruka just smiled at seeing Naruto seemingly following through on his promise at the Ramen stand. It might not change anything, but it would do Naruto some good to listen for once._

_And instead of simply talking to the Hokage about everything and anything as usual, Naruto had started drilling him for knowledge every time he came around. He asked about all the things that he couldn't quite grasp from the scrolls, and about the various shinobi arts that he needed help with… like everything. All the things that couldn't be learnt properly from a scroll, like chakra control and ninjutsu, were explained in a basic way to Naruto._

_He couldn't say that Naruto had simply been sleeping through class because you were basically required to be awake to learn the more physical parts of the ninja arts, and he knew Naruto hadn't skipped school _that_ often via the use of the crystal ball in his desk. When the old Professor had realised what was going on he had resolved to look more thoroughly into the education of his village. If the teachers of the academy were deliberately sabotaging Naruto's education then there would some heads rolling, metaphorically of course. Or not._

_Nevertheless, Sarutobi had foregone trying to build upon Naruto's existing knowledge seeing as he had next to none, and instead had worked upon fixing what he knew. He had attempted to correct his shoddy taijutsu stances as much as he could, and had got him started on basic chakra control, although the latter didn't go very well._

_But alas, there is only so much one can teach in a week._

_And so it was that Naruto was sat behind his desk, watching as the papers were handed out. Naruto spared once last glance at Sasuke as his arrived a his desk, strengthening his resolve, before flipping his paper over at Iruka's, "Hajime!" Naruto flipped over his paper and read the first question, ''Name the three largest countries in the Elemental Nations. Bonus points if it's in order.' Shit, I don't know this, I never paid atten- Oh wait, yes I do, there was that map in the geography scroll Iruka-sensei gave me' Naruto thought as he remembered what he read in the scroll. 'Tsuchi no Kuni (Land of Earth), Kaze no Kuni (Land of Wind) and Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), in that order.' Naruto wrote down as such and moved on to the next question, surprising Iruka at how quickly he was writing answers down._

_He would be more surprised when he reviewed the results and saw Naruto's score._

_(Flashback End)_

Naruto grinned to himself at the thought of how much he had dodged a bullet by avoiding being on the teme's team, before his grin died at the memory of what had happened after the written test, his good mood deflating in an instant. He had been tricked by Mizuki into stealing the Scroll of Seals, and learnt that he contained within his gut the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked the village a decade before. His mood returned quickly returned though; it was better to know than to not, and he had learnt a really cool jutsu after all.

Naruto idly listened as Iruka talked about how they were now Genin of the village and how they should be 'proud they had come this far' until he got to the part about team assignments, at which point Naruto sat bolt upright and paid rapt attention, "Alright, so now we will assign you into teams."

Naruto kept his attention focused on Iruka's words as he rattled off the list of teams and their sensei's until he came to Team 7, "Team 7, under Kakashi Hatake, will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno…" Naruto visibly flinched at Iruka's words. He just knew he was going to be on this team, he knew it, "…And Kiba Inuzuka." Naruto breathed a huge sigh of relief at that. He wasn't with Sasuke, his plan had worked! He heard Sasuke mutter a 'Hn' under his breath, while Sakura Stood up and cheered that she was going to be on Sasuke's team, and Kiba growled angrily at his bad luck, the small white dog on his head doing the same.

Meanwhile, all the Jounin in the room were laughing as all three stood up expectantly. They stood there awkwardly as the older shinobi continued to laugh, even Iruka chuckling a bit, until Sakura spoke up, "Hey, where's our sensei? Isn't he supposed to pick us up?"

One of the jounin stopped laughing for long enough to answer her, a tall man with spiky dark hair and a cigar hanging out of his mouth, "You might as well sit down, you're gonna be here for a while. Kakashi's due to be here in, oh, about two hours time." The man said, glancing at his watch. At seeing the genins confused, and in Sasuke's case indifferent, looks, the man laughed again, "He's always late, you might as well get used to it."

As the three genin sat down, annoyed, Iruka looked at his list once again, "Moving on, Team 8, under Kurenai Yuuhi, will be Choji Akimichi, Shino Aburame and Ino Yamanaka." Ino immediately stood up and started shout about 'gluttons and creepy bug kids', while Choji, a large boy with spiral markings on his cheeks, picked up his bag of chips and made to follow their sensei, a pretty woman with black hair and red eyes, out of the room. Shino, a boy with sunglasses that seemed to be perpetually on his face and a coat with the collar turned up, revealing very little of his face, followed suit, with Ino soon reluctantly following.

Iruka continued on, "Next we have Team 10, since Team 9 is still in circulation, which will be Naruto Uzumaki…" Naruto's head snapped up, "… Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuuga, under Sarutobi Asuma." Naruto and Shikamaru stood and looked at their teacher, the same man who had spoken to Team 7 before. Naruto made to go down the steps, but suddenly remembered Hinata sitting next to him. He turned around and found that the girl was still out cold. Blushing in embarrassment, Naruto quickly picked the girl up and walked down the steps, getting a raised eyebrow from Asuma before he turned and walked through the door.

A few seconds later Naruto's voice could be heard floating back through the door as a certain piece of information registered in his mind, "EEEHH? I could have been on Sakura-chan's team!?"

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**That is the first chapter of this story. Sorry it wasn't very interesting, and very short, but I wanted to get the premise out of the way first before I did anything. And this always happens in my stories, it gets way better later on, trust me.**

**I've always wanted to mix up the teams a little, but I ended up giving them a complete overhaul here. I'm excited to see where I can go with this though, I've got all these ideas in my head that I need to write down for the world to see how awesome they are! I'm also flying by the seat of my pants here too guys, I've no real plan or anything.**

**Anyway, reviews help, as do certain flames, all that jazz.**

**UI**


	2. Chapter 2 - The True Genin Test

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I am now going to bury that fact under a ton of concrete like Atari did with those E.T game cartridges. Hey, easy way to get rid of your problems, right?**

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Chapter Two: The True Genin Test

Naruto, still carrying Hinata, and Shikamaru, followed their new sensei out of the school and into the yard, where he sat them down on the ground and looked at them appraisingly. Naruto could feel his eyes on him where he sat next to where he had set Hinata down, and it made him nervous. He was going to have this man as his teacher for who knows how long, first impressions were everything.

As Naruto fought back the urge to straighten his headband, he heard a noise next to him, and looked down to see Hinata's eyes fluttering and her quietly murmering. He only heard the last words, "-kun, n-not there." She said this with a slight smile on her face and a rose blush, before her eyes sanpped open and she slowly started to prop herself up, "Ano, what's going on?"

Asuma sighed and sat down, snuffing out his cigarette on the ground as he did so, "You're on my genin team kid, and it seems like you slept through all the team announcements. You were lucky enough to have Blondie over here carry you." At that Hinata's head snapped to the side to look at Naruto and Shikamaru, who gave her a cheesy grin and a raised eyebrow respectively.

She stayed like that for a second, staring at Naruto as her brain processed the information. When it finally hit her that she was on Naruto's team _and_ he carried her, _and_ he was sitting next to her, a blush started to fill her face and she looked about ready to pass out again until Asuma leaned over and snapped his fingers in front of her, breaking her out of it, " Now now, we don't want you passing out again. At least hear me out first before you conk out."

He got a small, embarrassed nod from Hinata, although she still had a blush on her face, and started speaking again, "Now, since I'm probably going to be with you brats for a while, we might as well introduce ourselves. Tell me your names and any other information about yourselves. Likes, dislikes, ambitions. Go."

Naruto opened his mouth to talk, but was beaten to it by Shikamaru, "Why don't you start, to give us an example." If he wanted information from them then he might as well give some first. Naruto shut his mouth and nodded in agreement, while Hinata just looked at him meekly.

Asuma shrugged, seeing no harm in it, "Okay, my name is Sarutobi Asuma. I like training, boxing, smoking, other adult stuff you kids don't need to know about, and a woman who you also don't need to know. I dislike sitting around, anti-smoking areas, people who mess with my cigarettes, and loud-mouth punks. As for my ambition, I…" The three children sat with bated breath, "…don't know."

All three glared at him and he grinned a bit before pointing at Naruto, "Your go Blondie." Naruto huffed a bit at the name, but started anyway.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, the colour orange, Teuchi-ojiisan and Ayame-niisan, Sandaime-jiji, Sakura-chan, and pranks. I dislike the time it takes to cook instant ramen, Sasuke-teme, doing nothing, and people who make fun of the colour orange. My ambition is to have my face on that cliff, dattebayo!" He said, pointing at the Hokage Monument behind him. Asuma raised an eyebrow at that, but pointed at Hinata all the same.

Said girl poked her index fingers together nervously, "Ano, my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I like gardening, my sister Hanabi, making medicine, quiet places a-and…" She looked at Naruto for a second, the implications of which went straight over his head. "I dislike selfish people, people who take advantage of people, fainting and loud noises. My dream is to be with a certain someone." She said the last part with a confidence that startled the rest of them slightly. Asuma smiled lightly before looking at Shikamaru.

"Ne, too troublesome." Asuma shot him a glare which Shikamaru met with an indifferent stare. This kept up for only a few seconds before the pineapple-haired boy relented, "Ugh, fine. My name is Nara Shikamaru. I like doing nothing, watching clouds, doing stuff with Choji and shogi. I dislike, hard work, training, walking, any other kind of physical activity really, and being beaten by my dad at shogi."

"For my ambition, I don't have a big one really. I just want to be a so-so ninja with an average salary, marry an average looking wife and have 2 kids, a girl and a boy. I'll retire when my daughter is married and son is independent and I'll die before my spouse." Asuma, Naruto and even Hinata all looked at him with shock and a sweatdrop, getting a shrug out of Shikamaru. Hey, it wasn't his fault he didn't want to be anyone special. It was genetics, probably.

Asuma snapped out of it first and quickly lit a cigarette, placing it in his mouth, "Okay, well now we've all introduced ourselves I want you all to follow me as best you can." He grinned at them mischievously, "Try to keep up." And with that he was gone in a blur.

All three new genin stared at the spot where their sensei had been, unbelieving at how fast he was. It was like he was there one minute; they could feel him, and the next his presence had totally disappeared from the area.

As Naruto waved a cautious hand through the air where he had last seen his sensei, Shikamaru stood up, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to get lunch." Naruto immediately jumped up and pointed at Shikamaru accusingly.

"You lazy bones, you just don't want to follow him do you?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his antics. Honestly, who except another jounin could be expected to follow him at that speed? They were probably supposed to find him, not follow him.

"No, I'm just starving and I know that none of us can follow him if he's going at that kind of speed. Besides, I have a pretty good idea of where he's gone anyway." Hinata nervously stood up from her position on the ground.

"Ano, Naruto-kun, I'm kind of hungry too." Naruto was about to reply that he wasn't when a loud rumbling emanated from his midsection, getting Shikamaru to smirk and Hinata to give a small smile.

Naruto sighed in resignation, "Fine, lets go get lunch." He perked up a bit as he had an idea, "I know the perfect place".

* * *

(15 Minutes Later)

"Hey Teuchi-ojiisan, Ayame-neesan!" Naruto's voice sounded out as he and his new teammates ducked under the flap of the ramen stand. Naruto sniffed the air as the the sat down, "Mmm, smells good."

Teuchi looked up from where he was chopping vegetables behind the counter and smiled at the sight of their best customer, "Oh hey Naruto, good to see ya! And you've brought some friends with you too. Ayame, we have have customers!" He shouted towards the back of the shop.

Ayame smiled as well when she came out from the back, seeing that Naruto had brought friends with him, "Oh hey Naruto-kun, I heard you're a genin now." She said with no small measure of pride. Both she and her father had grown close to the blonde over the years, and it was good to see that he had finally become a genin.

Naruto shot her a thousand-watt grin and flicked his headband on his forehead, "Yep, I'm a ninja now! That means I'm gonna be going on missions and saving princesses and defeating really powerful guys!"

"Aww, my little Naru-chan's growing up!" She said, reaching over and ruffling his hair, getting an embarrassed blush out of him. Ayame then turned her attention towards the other people in the stall, " And I see you brought some friends with you too."

"Yeah, these are my team-mates, Shikamaru and Hinata." He said, pointing at each of them in turn.

Shikamaru gave her a half-hearted wave from where his head was slumped on the counter, while Hinata looked nervous at meeting people who for all the world seemed like Naruto's guardians, "N-nice to meet you Ayame-san. I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

Ayame took her hand with a sly grin, "Well its nice to see Naruto got a girlfriend at last." Hinata nearly tripped over her own feet while sitting down (somehow) and started stuttering nonsensically with a massively red face. Ayame laughed at the sight of her and Naruto's uncomprehending expression, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Anyway, what'll you guys have?"

"I'll have three miso ramen, two of the house special and uhh… two vegetable ramen. Variety right?" Ayame noted as such on a magically procured notepad and turned to Shikamaru, who simply ordered a miso ramen. Meanwhile Hinata was in shock at how much Naruto had ordered and wondered if she should order the same to impress him. Eventually she just decided on a vegetable ramen.

Their ramen came quickly due to them being the only ones there, and while Naruto was scarfing down his ramen like he hadn't eaten in weeks and Shikamaru ate his, Ayame moved over to Hinata, who was eating slowly and watching Naruto eat with fascination. "So, how long have you liked Naruto?" She said with a slight grin.

Hinata's head snapped around to hers, nearly spilling her ramen as she did so. Ayame chuckled slightly, "What, you didn't think I noticed? It was kind of obvious with all the looks you were shooting him."

Hinata was nearly speechless, "W-was it really that o-obvious?" If it was then surely he knew about her crush, and just decided to ignore it. Did that mean he didn't like her?

Ayame caught on to what she was thinking immediately, "Don't worry, he doesn't know. He's too thick-skulled to notice any advances. Either that or he just had such a socially deprived childhood that he doesn't know what's going on when you do stuff that would make it obvious to other people." Ayame looked at him sadly for a moment before grinning at Hinata again, "Although its nice to know that there's at least one person who cares for him."

Hinata frowned slightly at the mention of Naruto's childhood, before returning Ayame's smile with one of her own, "Ano, Ayame-san, you won't tell him, right?" Ayame was surprised at the girls question but shook her head all the same, "No, I won't tell him, don't worry." Someone would have to though. Naruto wouldn't know in the slightest if anyone made any subtle advances on him. Hinata was going to have to tell him directly to his face if she wanted him to know.

From what Ayame had seen of the girl already, she guessed that was going to be the hardest thing, no matter how close the two grew being on the same team. However once Naruto did know… Ayame knew he would never let the girl go, just like with the rest of his precious people.

Ayame smiled once again at the girl before returning to Naruto getting an order of seconds from him. Hinata looked at Naruto for a moment before returning to her ramen with a small smile on her face.

* * *

(Meanwhile, In the Academy)

"Ugh, I'm so boooored!" From atop Kiba's head a small white dog barked his agreement. They had been waiting here for at least a half-hour since the rest of their classmates had left, and none of them had anything to do. Well sure, Sasuke could amuse himself by brooding intensely for a few hours while Sakura drooled over him, but for Kiba it got kind of boring after a while, even with Akamaru.

After another five minutes of this all three looked up at the sound of the door opening. They watched as a man with silver, gravity-defying hair and a Konoha headband slanted over his left eye and a mask on the lower half of his facewalked in, only to be met by two irate newly-minted genin and for some reason a dog pointing at him accusingly, "YOU'RE LATE!" Both Kiba and Sakura shouted at the man, accompanied by a growl from the puppy. Meanwhile Sasuke gave a slightly annoyed grunt and a glare from his seat.

The man didn't look surprised in the least a the two genin's proclamation, My first impression of you is that…" He looked around the room as if looking for someone, and somehow appeared to frown under his mask when he didn't see them, "…you are not what I was expecting. Meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that the man disappeared from view in a swirl of leaves.

Kiba and Sakura just stared disbelievingly at the space where the man was. Had he just left them again after making them wait for an hour? Sasuke eventually stood and walked out the door, quickly followed by Sakura, "Wait for me Sasuke-kun!"

Kiba just sighed and scratched the top of Akamaru's head, "This team is not going to be fun, is it Akamaru?" An small dejected yip from the dog was his answer as he followed his team-mates out the door.

* * *

(In the Hokage's Office)

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the mass of paper on his desk at a knock on his office door, "Come in." The grizzled old professor sighed as Kakashi entered; he knew this would happen at some point. He set down his pen and found his pipe in the folds of his robe, lighting it and taking a puff before motioning Kakashi to speak.

Hokage-sama, I understand I was supposed to have Naruto Uzumaki for my genin team?" Sarutobi nodded. Kakashi scratched the side of his face, "Uhh… why isn't he?" The Hokage face vaulted onto his desk at the straight forward question.

Getting back up, he started to answer the jounin's question, "Well Kakashi-kun, if you hadn't shown up to the team assignment meeting two hours late then would have known that there have been last minute adjustments to the teams." Kakashi sweatdropped; stupid being late tendencies.

"But why Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi sighed, "Truth be told Kakashi-kun, it was my decision. A week ago Naruto-kun came to me for help with his studies. At first I thought it was the inherent need to cram in him, but as I worked with him he would occasionally mutter something about 'Not gonna be on Sasuke's tea, 'ttebayo', or something."

"I eventually asked him about it and he told me that he had learnt that he was going to be on a team with Sasuke Uchiha, and that he didn't think he could work with him, which was why he wanted to improve his potential score on the test, so he wouldn't be dead-last." Kakashi nodded, knowing the tradition of how the Rookie of the Year, best kunoichi and worst student would be put together in order to balance things out. Heck, that was how his own genin team had been formed; Obito was always late for class so he was dead-last.

"Honestly, even if he had aced both parts of the exam Naruto probably still wouldn't have made up for his performance the rest of the year. However when I looked at the team set-ups again and took into account Naruto's beliefs, I realised that I was wrong in putting him and Sasuke together." He looked over at Kakashi, "You should understand that Kakashi, there wouldn't be any teamwork whatsoever."

Kakashi nodded, he valued teamwork over anything else and from what he had read of Naruto and Sasuke he knew they could never work together. However that brought up another point, "But how is putting Kiba with him any better."

Hiruzen smiled, "He's an Inuzuka." Kakashi's visible eye widened in understanding; Inuzuka's were very much about the 'pack mentality', if anything they probably valued loyalty and teamwork more than Kakashi himself did, "I see you get my point. Eventually I just decided to scrap the original team placements and re-do them, and I think what I came up with will both work in terms of teamwork and encourage growth, despite breaking up the Ino-Shika-Cho trio."

Kakashi nodded once again. He didn't have to like that his sensei's son wasn't on his team, but at least he understood why. With a curt wave to the old Hokage Kakashi vanished backed to his students in a Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Jutsu). Sarutobi smiled at the spot where the silver-haired man had; Kakashi might have been a good sensei to Naruto but he felt Asuma would do much more for the boy.

Sarutobi looked down at the pile of paper on his desk and stifled a groan; if anything the pile seemed to have grown in the time he had been talking to Kakashi. Taking one last puff on his pipe and really wishing he could take more, the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato returned to his work.

* * *

(A while later)

Naruto, Shikamaru and Hinata were walking along the streets of Konoha, the former with a big smile on his face that had been there since Teuchi had graciously said that their lunch was on the house, which was good because he was pretty sure that if he paid for all his food _alone_ then Gama-chan would be starved, never mind the others.

They were wandering through the streets of Konoha on Shikamaru's guess of where Asuma would be. He knew enough from being the son of the Jounin Commander that each team was assigned a training ground in the village, so they'd been systematically going through them in order. So far they'd had no luck with numbers one through nine, but apparently persistence paid off as they rounded the corner of a bend to training ground ten.

Ahead of them was a large open field surrounded by trees and foliage, with a small lake near the back end and a single very large tree in the centre of the field. Leaning against said tree was Asuma, smoking a cigarette and glaring at them lightly as they walked over, "It took you long enough to get here, jeez! Why'd you take so long, did you have lunch or something?" At the owlish stares of two of them and Naruto's massive grin Asuma sighed, Fine, I should have expected as much." He gestured to the ground, "Come sit down."

All three sat down in the shade, Hinata with a small blush on her face at being next to Naruto, "Alright, so you passed the genin exam, congratulations, and you met me, which is noteworthy also." He grinned when Naruto rolled his eyes, but sobered up quickly, "However, you're not genin yet."

Asuma couldn't help but have a small smile slip as Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground. Hinata's eyes widened slightly too, but Shikamaru just sighed, "I should have expected as much." I mean really, the test for being a genin couldn't be that easy.

"What do you mean we're not genin!' Naruto burst out angrily.

Asuma covered his smile and sat on the ground, "What I mean is that the test from the Academy isn't enough to get you to be a proper genin. What you thought being able to write some facts down and being able to do a few rudimentary jutsus made you qualified to be a ninja?" Naruto nodded furiously, "Well, it's not. Sorry 'bout that. This test is a test of your actual ninja skills, and I should let you know that it has a 66% failure rate." Naruto's jaw dropped some more, "That means that only one of you is going to pass this test, and the one he does is going to get tutelage under me."

"A-ano, what if we f-fail?" Hinata was looking very nervous at the prospect of a second test; what would her father say if she failed?

"You can't be genin." Well, that was blunt. Asuma saw Shikamaru looking at him suspiciously and decided now was the time to leave, which his stomach seemed to agree with as it grumbled loudly.

"Now, I would hold the test today, but I have not had lunch yet, and am currently in the process of starving to death, so we'll do it tomorrow. Meet back here at ten tomorrow morning, and I'll tell you what we'll be doing." Asuma stood up and was about to set off before deciding to take something out of Kakashi's book (thankfully not the orange one) and looked down at the three genin who were all a bit annoyed, "Also, don't eat any breakfast tomorrow morning, you might not be able to hold it down."

And with that, he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Shikamaru immediately sat up and addressed Naruto and Hinata, "Something smells fishy about this." Naruto still looked very annoyed that he was going to have to do another test, and Hinata looked very nervous poking her fingers together, but he continued, "I mean if they wanted to test us on our combat skills then why put us on our squads first?"

Naruto thought about it and calmed down a little as he found sense in what Shikamaru was saying, "Yeah, why did they put us on teams if only one of us was going to get to be a genin?" That seemed kind of stupid, "So whats the test about then?"

"T-teamwork, maybe?" Hinata spoke up and earned a big grin from Naruto which she blushed under a bit.

"Yeah, that must be it!"

Shikamaru nodded, "That's what I was thinking." He was starting to like being on this team. Hinata was quite smart and was also quiet, which was more than could be said for most of the girls in their class, and while Naruto was kind of the opposite they had been friends of a sort in the academy, and he could be serious when need be despite his goofy persona, "That means we have to know what each-other can do, and then we can figure plan out from there."

Naruto nodded and folded his arms, "Alright, I think my greatest strength is…"

* * *

In the bushes by the training ground, Asuma smiled to himself as he used chakra-enhanced hearing to listen on their conversation, 'They got it, just like thought they would.' He honestly didn't think it would be so soon though, 'Now all that's left is seeing how they put it into practice' His stomach grumbled very loudly, almost giving away his position, 'And getting some food.' He disappeared once again in a Shunshin.

* * *

**And scene. I think I kind of got to do what I wanted in this chapter, but it turned out differently from what I expected at the start. As someone pointed out in the reviews, the team set-ups aren't all test scores, and hopefully I explained why the teams actually got changed this time.**

**Also, due to having nothing to go off, this being my first fic and everything, I can't tell if I got a good response or not, but it seems pretty good to me. It also puts a lot of pressure on, but that's to be expected. Anyway, thank you, hope you enjoyed, reviews are welcome, etc, etc.**

**UI**


	3. Chapter 3: Give Me Back My Jumpsuits!

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Naruto. However, I do apparently own the inherent inability to revise for exams, and instead write this, which does not bode well for the next couple of weeks.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Give Me Back My Jumpsuits!

_Beep beep beep!_

A very tired Naruto sat up in bed and stretched with a yawn. Blearily, he reached out a hand to silence the offending alarm clock, and swung himself out of bed, eyes half-lidded. He slowly opened his cupboard and grabbed one of the many cups of instant ramen, sticking it in the microwave on his way to the bathroom.

He came out exactly three minutes later, grabbed his not-so-instant ramen from the microwave and wolfed it down with the pair of disposable chopsticks that came with it, despite his still-present tiredness. With that done, he walked over to the closet and grabbed one of his jumpsuits as he passed without thinking about it.

Only he didn't.

Blinking his tired eyes and rubbing them to get the sleep out, Naruto walked backwards and repeated the motion. Reaching a hand out to grab a jumpsuit like every morning, only to have it close around nothing. He turned to face the closet in shock, and was met with a distinct lack of orange. Of course, there was nothing else in there except the empty box that had contained his revision scrolls, which were currently situated under his bed for easy access in case he ever needed them.

He stood there blinking at his empty closet for a few more moments, trying to think of why it was empty, before he realised that he hadn't needed to open his closet to try and get his clothes. Which meant that someone else had opened it while he was asleep.

Which meant that someone had stolen them.

A few moments later the village of Konoha was treated to a very angry someone who looked surprisingly like the village pariah, but couldn't be because there was no orange, racing through the streets in nothing but a pair of shorts and a sleeping cap.

_(A while later)_

Shikamaru and Hinata found Naruto leaning against the side of the entrance of their training ground, clad in orange and looking very grumpy. To his surprise his look was matched by both Shikamaru and to a slightly lesser extent Hinata. To his even greater surprise Hinata wasn't wearing her normal bulky jacket. No, instead she was wearing only a tight black t-shirt that looked quite tight and uncomfortable.

Now Naruto was still an adolescent boy despite being less than the sharpest knife in the rack, so the sight of Hinata breasts in a shirt that seemed a bit too small for her caused a small tickle of blood to come from his nose. He looked at Shikamaru and saw a dried trail of blood below his nostril, signifying the same thing had happened to him.

"So, what did he take from you then?"

"Huh?" Naruto wrenched his eyes away from Hinata chest, wiping his nose as he did so. It was probably a good thing too, as the girl was beginning to go quite red from his gaze.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes despite nearly doing the exact same thing when he and Hinata had met up on the way from the clan compounds district. "I said, what did he take from you? Asuma came into our houses last night and took our stuff. For Hinata it was her jacket," He jerked his head towards the still slightly red Hinata, "And for me it was my shogi boards. What about you?"

Naruto blushed a bit, "Uhh… nothing?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and looked to be about to press the issue, but Naruto hurriedly moved on, "Anyway, how do you know it was Asuma? And doesn't the rest of your clan have any shogi boards?"

"My dad said that he couldn't play shogi with him because of "stuff', and the rest of my clan came up with similar excuses, so I put two and two together and figured it was him. I've not been able to play shogi today." It was obviously bothering him a bit, seeing as how his eye kept twitching periodically, "Besides, even a high jounin couldn't sneak into either of our clan compounds, especially Hinata's with the Byakugan, so do you really think anyone but our jounin sensei would be allowed to come in and take stuff?"

Naruto nodded, he had a point. "So what do we do then? We need to find him and beat his ass so we get our stuff back." Both Shikamaru and Hinata nodded. Naruto snapped his fingers as an idea came to him, "Wait, Hinata, don't you have that cool eye thing that lets you see through stuff? Use that to find him!"

Hinata blushed a bit when he said her eyes were 'cool', but nodded and activated her doujutsu. She gasped at what she saw, "Ano, h-he's in there." She pointed to the training ground, "A-and he's got our stuff."

Naruto's eyes widened, "What!? He wasn't in there when I checked ten minutes ago!" He looked around the post he was leaning on through the gate of the training area and sure enough, there was Asuma standing a bit away from the tree in the centre, smoking a cigarette without a care in the world, three large bags tied to the branches of the tree behind him.

Without bothering to talk to his two teammates, Naruto immediately stormed towards the man, the other two following more sedately behind him. Naruto reached a point about 15 feet from the man, and jabbed his finger at him angrily, "Hey, Smokestack, give me back my jumpsuits!"

The man developed a small tick mark at the nickname, before an aspect of Naruto's current look caught his attention, "Wait a minute, I thought I got all of those things!" He said in exasperation, seeing that Naruto still had a jumpsuit on, "Don't tell me you had more after the back-up stash!"

Naruto simply growled, placed his hands in the ram seal and… burst into a puff of smoke. Where Naruto was once standing in his orange clothes, he now stood in just a pair of shorts and a sleeping cap, "I henged myself after I ran out of my apartment and realised that I was half naked."

Asuma stared at the boy a few moments, and then burst out into raucous laughter, as did Shikamaru surprisingly. On the inside though, Asuma was mildly impressed, 'I couldn't see through that henge. He either has really good chakra control, which I doubt considering what he contains, or he pumped a load of chakra into that. Take into account that you must me constantly outputting chakra for the Henge no Jutsu (Tranformation Jutsu), and this kid must have a shit-ton of chakra. Hmm…'

Meanwhile, Hinata was staring at Naruto with a rose-red blush, 'Naruto-kun… shirtless. Must… resist… nosebleed…' Despite this, a small trickle of blood ran down her face, now giving the team matching nosebleed trails. Shikamaru noticed this and stopped laughing quickly, waving his hand in front of Hinata's face until she stopped steaming.

Asuma calmed his laughter after seeing the trio had settled down, although Naruto was still fuming and Hinata still had a light colour to her cheeks, "Alright, enough playing around. Welcome to your real genin test. There is only one thing you must do to pass. Rescue the three hostages behind me, and you get to become a three-man cell with me as your jounin-sensei. Fail, and don't get to be a ninja. Ever." The grizzled shinobi dropped his cigarette and stomped it out before taking out a lighter.

"You have 30 minutes until your belongings go up in flames." He bent down and lit a previously unseen fuse at his feet that split into each of the three bags, and kicked it backwards so it was under the branches of the tree rather than next to him. With that, two of the three soon-to-be genin took off from their places and dashed off into the trees.

Shikamaru turned to what he thought to be his two team-mates and spoke, "Alright guys, remember the pla- Hey, where's Naruto?" Hinata just pointed out of the bushes they were hiding in to where Naruto was still standing in the middle of the open space, facing down the jounin, "Troublesome. For the love of Kami, Naruto, get over here!" He hissed at the blonde under his breath, even though he clearly couldn't hear him.

Meanwhile, Naruto pointed at the chain-smoking man looking at him with interest, "Thirty minutes? I won't need three to get my jumpsuits back. Come 'ere!" Naruto then charged at the shinobi head-on, causing Shikamaru to face-palm in the bushes. The stupidity of such a thing shocked even Hinata.

'Who charges at full speed towards a jounin?' Asuma thought to himself in mild shock, readying a hand to stop the boy in his tracks. However when Naruto saw this he grinned, and instead of attacking, he dropped low and slid under the mans legs, quickly getting back up and running towards the bags on the tree.

Asuma was still a jounin though, and his speed far outmatched Naruto's. He jumped backwards and landed in front of the boy, blocking his path once more. Knowing the same thing wouldn't work twice, this time Naruto attacked, jumping and swinging a leg towards his opponent's torso.

The bearded shinobi simply lifted an arm up to block it, and although he didn't budge an inch, he was surprised at the strength behind the kick, 'His form is complete crap, but he has a decent amount of power for his age.' His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto grabbed the arm Asuma had blocked with and used it as leverage to launch another kick at Asuma's face. The jounin simply leaned back and allowed the kick to miss, sending Naruto off-balance, 'He's quite unpredictable too. Alright, I can work with that.'

Asuma grabbed Naruto's arm with his free hand and wrenched his grip off of him, throwing him across the field back to where he started, "Nice try kid, but you'll have to try harder than that. I'm a jounin you know." Naruto simply growled and ran right back at the man.

In the treeline Hinata and Shikamaru were watching Naruto get thrown around like a ragdoll, and still keep getting up for more, with a bit of wonder. Shikamaru shook himself out of it and glared at Naruto across the field, 'Dammit, he needs to get over here so we can do something!' He glanced at Hinata who was staring at the exchange with her Byakugan on, 'Hinata's a very close range fighter, and she's not gonna be able to get to him without being seen.' He sighed to himself, 'Guess its up to me then.' He put his hands in the rat seal.

Asuma was still engaging (see: destroying) Naruto in a taijutsu fight when a shadow snaked across the ground towards his feet. Having had some experience with Nara clan techniques before, Asuma immediately jumped away, dragging Naruto with him as the boys fist was caught in his grasp, eliciting a yelp from him. He looked at the boy in hhis grip, then back at the source of the shadow that was currently advancing, and grinned.

"Fire in the hole!" Asuma swung Naruto around in a circle several times before releasing him in the direction of the spot in the bushes where the shadow was coming from. He was rewarded by a yelp from the treeline, and a loud crash as the shadow retreated quickly, "I've always wanted to say that."

All three genin were in a pile, with Shikamaru on bottom, then Hinata, then a very dazed Naruto. Said blonde boy quickly got back up and cracked his knuckles with an angry expression, looking about ready to head back in when a hand grabbed his ankle. He looked down to see Shikamaru glaring up at him from beneath Hinata, "Stop. We need to work together to do this."

"B-but… I… Orange…" He sighed in resignation, "Fine." He turned around and offered a hand to Hinata to help her up, which she took with a blush, which grew even more when she realised that Naruto was still shirtless, although the look was ruined slightly by the cap still on his head. Shikamaru sat up and brushed himself off after Hinata was off of him, still looking slightly annoyed at Naruto.

"Alright, now that _everyone's_ here…" Naruto had the decency to look sheepish, "…We can figure out something on how to deal with this. Agter that we only haver about half of the time left. Do you guys remember the basic plan we came up with yesterday?" The two in front of him nodded, "Okay, we're going to change that a bit…"

Throughout this byplay, Asuma was getting slightly anxious, "Kami, I didn't kill them with that move did I? I meant to surprise them, not murder them." He said worriedly, but added under his breath, "Even it that felt really good to pull off." Thankfully though, he was met with the sight of all three genin walking out of the trees from where he had thrown Naruto, looking slightly scuffed but otherwise fine.

He grinned at them, "So you've decided to take me on at the same time have you? Can't blame you, really. Come on, I can take it." He settled into a low, almost boxing looking stance with his arms in front of his face, one of which he extended in a 'come hither' gesture. And indeed they did.

Naruto, Hinata and Shukamaru all came rushing at him at the same speed, which had Asuma slightly impressed, 'They've got their speed coordinated already? What did they do when I left them yesterday?" He readied himself when they reached striking distance of him, and dodged under a jumping roundhouse kick from Naruto, diverting a few sloppy Jyuuken strikes from Hinata with one hand and blocking a punch from Shikamaru with the other.

This three-on-one continued for a few minutes until Asuma started feeling something was off. Both Naruto and Shikamaru's punches felt the same to him, and there was no way that Hinata was that bad at her families signature style, 'Something's going on here. I haven't felt any chakra coming from Hinata's jabs, and I've never seen a Nara do so much work in a fight.' He narrowed his eyes as he realised what was happening, 'But that would mean one of them would have to have a solid clone jutsu. And I can guess which.'

Up until he had refrained from seriously harming the three kids, only blocking and dodging their strikes, but know as he dodged a strike from Hinata he sank a fist into her gut, which confirmed his suspicions when she promptly burst into a puff of smoke. He proceeded grab 'Shikamaru's' arm and throw him into the ground, causing him to explode into smoke too. He was about to punch what he suspected to be the real Naruto when he felt his movements suddenly freeze up, and immediately after he felt a few sharp pokes on his body.

Naruto jumped away from him and landed next to his teammates, who had walked into his currently static field of view. Shikamaru had on an easy smile, "Checkmate." Naruto had a grin on his face too and even Hinata smiled a bit at their frozen sensei. "Naruto, go and stop the fus- Shit, Naruto go NOW!"

The reason for his alarm was evident, as when Naruto looked the ends of the lit fuses were nearing the sacks on the tree. He ran at full-pelt, intent of putting them out, while Asuma was panicking. He had planned to put them out himself when the tree displayed teamwork, but while he could unseal his tenketsu by forcing enough chakra through them, he wouldn't be able to do it quick enough to reach them.

Naruto however, did. With a surprising burst of speed, he then did something that shocked both Hinata and Shikamaru, and then Asuma when he found outabout it later. The way he was positioned he would reach the bag containing his belongings first, as evidenced by the scrap of orange which was overflowing out the top of the bag that was about three times the size of the others.

However, instead of stopping the fuse of his bag, he raced straight past it and pinched the fuse of one bag, stopping it, and then the other, before racing back to try and save his own stuff.

He was too late.

As he watched, the burning fuse reached the surface of the bag, which then burst into a massive, bright orange flame. There must have been some flammable chemical that was used when making them, because there was no way that it should have burned so quickly. Within seconds, it was done, and the only thing left of Naruto's jumpsuits was a pile of white ash.

Naruto fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face as he scooped up the ash and cradled it lovingly, letting out a cry of pure anguish into the air.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

Asuma was sitting on the ground in front of his students, looking sheepish as they all watched Naruto, back in his henge, stare in despair at the pile of ash in his hands. Asuma hadn't meant to destroy the jumpsuits, honestly, although he couldn't help but feel it would do the kid some good to have some different clothes. Deciding to break the silence, Asuma coughed into his hand, getting all three genin to look at him seriously, even if Naruto's expression had some anger in it too.

"Well, on that note, I have only one thing to say to you three about the test…" Asuma let his face grow dark as storm clouds seemed to gather behind him, hoping to intimidate them, but all three of them just looked at him blankly as they knew they had gotten the point of the test. Seeing this, Asuma coughed once, lit a cigarette and grinned at them, "You pass!"

Despite knowing for sure they had passed, all three genin let out a sigh of relief at hearing it from the horse's mouth. Asuma continued speaking, While at the beginning Naruto was the only one who attacked, at the end all three of you used your abilities in conjunction to capture me. And Naruto really impressed me with the way you saved your teammates stuff instead of your own. From this moment on, I declare us officially as Team 10!"

"Now since we're a team now, we need to set out a timetable to meet. I'm not gonna be free all of the time, so we need to have some free training days in there." That technically wasn't true, his team came before anything else unless it was extremely, vital-to-the-safety-of-the-village important, but he would like to have some free time to do other stuff (see: go see Kurenai).

All three genin got into a huddle and conversed, before seemingly coming to a decision, and sitting back again, letting Shikamaru speak for them, "How about we meet here, at nine, every week day, and then on weekends we have free days in which we can come to you for help with training if we need it. That way we train through the morning and a bit of the afternoon, and have the rest of the day off." Naruto and Hinata nodded their agreement with the plan, and Asuma having thought about it found it good enough for him.

"Okay, that'll work I think." Asuma said, scratching his cheek, before seemingly remembering something and fishing around in his pocket, "Oh! Naruto! Here." He held out a wad of bills to the boy, who accepted it with some caution, causing Asuma to look sheepish again, "Yeah, I didn't mean to destroy your clothes really, so I figured that you could go buy something instead."

Naruto looked down at the money in his hands, then back up at Asuma, then repeated that a few times before jumping in the air with a silly grin on his face, "YATTA! Thank you Asuma-sensei!" He proceeded to glomp onto the man's leg, "Now I'm a real genin, and I can get more jumpsuits!"

Asuma and Shikamaru both sweatdropped at his switch in attitude, thinking 'MORE jumpsuits?' incredulously, while Hinata was blushing at the antics of her secret crush. Naruto quickly got off his sensei's leg and dusted himself off, before turning away to go get some lunch, the others following behind him.

* * *

Naruto walked the streets of Konoha in frustration. Every shop he'd tried to enter had him kicked off the premises almost immediately, even after he'd shown them the large wad of money in his wallet. He'd stopped doing that when one of the shop owners had tried to snatch it from him, saying something along the lines of 'Give me that you demon! You don't deserve it!' Only quick reflexes had saved him from having his precious funds taken.

He sighed in resignation. It had hurt when the villagers had treated him badly before he knew why, but now he actually _did_ know why, it somehow hurt a lot more. Couldn't they see he wasn't the Kyuubi? Heck if he was he'd probably have torn them all apart by now. And the worst part was that he couldn't even tell his friends for fear of them hating him like the rest of the population.

Suddenly saddened by his train of thought, Naruto was about to turn around, go home and figure out his clothes problem in the morning when a small store by the side of the street caught his eye. He almost didn't bother, but something about the place made him try it.

As he walked in what immediately caught his eye was the mass of weapons around the place. Sure there were clothes in there, but over half the store seemed dedicated to weapons, from simple kunai and shuriken to really weird stuff like chain sickles and massive hammers. He stared in slight awe for a moment at all of the metal, before turning his attention to the counter.

Standing behind was girl who looked about his age, which made him sigh in relief as she wouldn't know about his little furry problem. She had her hair up in buns and wore a bink blouse and pants. She also had a forehead protector on, marking her as ninja of the village.

And she was currently looking at him strangely.

Shaking his head clear of thoughts of the massive amount of weapons in the shop, he strode up to the counter with a smile only to find that he didn't know what to say. He had never really gotten this far into a shop before. The girl looked at him for a few seconds before speaking "Can I help you kid?"

A tick mark form on Naruto's forehead, "Hey, I'm not a kid, I'm a ninja! And you're the same age as me, so talk down to me like I'm younger than you!"

The girl smirked at him, "Not true I'm afraid. Think about it. Was I in your graduating class?" Naruto was sure he would have remembered this girl, especially with the panda-hair, so he shook his head, "And I'm an ninja. So what does that mean?" Naruto tilted his head in confusion as he tried to puzzle it out.

"I don't know?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "I have to be older than you kid. If I wasn't in your class and I'm a ninja then I must have been in one of the older classes, which means that unless you're a dropout from my class who retook their exam I'm older than you. Sorry kid." She put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair, getting him to growl a bit.

"Fine then! I'll just find some other place to shop!" He ducked under her hand and walked towards the door. He was getting sick of people talking down to him. First the villagers, and now this girl as well! Was no-one going to respect him for once?

"Wait!" That got him to turn around and fold his arms, looking at the girl in annoyance. She sighed and looked at him apologetically, "Look, I'm sorry okay? It's just that I've been a bit down lately because of a guy on my team so I guess I took it out on you. Sorry." Naruto's expression immediately softened as he walked back over to the counter.

"It's okay, I guess I've been a bit uptight because none of the shops around here would serve me." Tenten raised her eyebrow at that, even when Naruto grinned at her like it was a normal occurrence and stuck out his hand, "Anyway, I guess we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Tenten looked at the small blonde boy who was holding his hand out for her to shake and smiled a little as she took it, "I'm Tenten. Aren't you the boy who painted the Hokage monument?" Wow it seemed news travelled fast. That prank was what, two weeks ago? It seemed like ages away now.

Naruto grinned even more and rubbed the back of his head, "Yep, that's me."

"Huh. Never would have thought that someone so small could reach that high." Naruto growled at her comment, but stopped when she laughed a bit, "Sorry, bad joke. Anyway, what are you here for Naruto?"

"New clothes. Someone kind of burnt my old ones." Tenten looked at what he was currently wearing and nodded, agreeing that he need something new to wear, or at least something that wasn't bright orange. That really couldn't be good for stealth, although from the way he was behaving he probably wasn't the stealthy type. She pointed towards the clothing section of the store and watched in amusement as he walked over and stared at them blankly.

After a few minutes of this he walked back over looking sheepish, "Yeah, I've got no idea what I'm doing here. Could you help me?" Now Tenten, despite being a bit of a tomboy, was still a girl, and so when she heard that she immediately interpreted it as a chance for a makeover. So with stars in her eyes she jumped over the counter and manhandled the boy back towards the clothes.

She dropped him in front of the shelves and went back and forth along them, picking out certain articles and placing them in his arms, swapping various things out until he had a full set of ninja clothing. She then shoved the rather disoriented Jinchuuriki towards the changing room at the back, nearly making him drop them.

Shw was confused and slightly disgusted when instead of him draping his clothes over the door, a large puff of smoke burst from the bottom of it. Either he farted _really _badly, or that was a henge. Well he did say that his clothes were burnt…

When the door opened, Tenten squealed at the sight. In place of his jumpsuit was now a pair of three-quarter length black trousers with orange trim that were tied off with bandages, a black undershirt with an orange spiral design on it, and an orange and blue windbreaker, also with a spiral on the back. You couldn't see it through the windbreaker, but Tenten knew that there was a very thin mesh undershirt under his… undershirt? Would that make the mesh an under-undershirt? Who cared, the point was that he had new clothes.

Naruto looked down at himself appraisingly, trying to gauge whether he liked his new look or not. He was surprised she had let him keep the orange, but he decided that was a blessing: he didn't want to get rid of that just yet, he had kind of become attached to the colour. Before he could really decide though, he was grabbed and spun around by a joyful Tenten, "YES! Yes! My first make-over and he actually looks good!"

Nruto sweat-dropped at her antics and slowly pried her off of him, directing her to the counter, while he went off to grab some more sets of his clothes, as well as some new kunai and shuriken. When all was said and done and paid for, he was surprised at the amount of money he had left, 'Wow, that cost WAY less than I thought it would. I am definitely coming here again.' "Thanks for the clothes Tenten, I'll see you around okay?"

Tenten watched as the boy ran out into the street and sped off into the distance, 'Naruto huh? I get the feeling I'll be seeing way more of him than I'd like to.'

* * *

**And that's a wrap everybody. Sorry for the delay but I guess it really wasn't a good idea to start this when I've got my exams coming up.**

**I really don't think I did that well with this chapter. I wanted to get Naruto some new clothes definitely, but I wasn't sure how to do it, which is actually how I came up with Asuma's test, and i don't think i did his interaction with Tenten very well. Plus, that was my first fight scene ever, so tell me how you think I did. Praise, flames, comments, all are welcome. Seriously, if you have even a minor issue with the chapter or the way I write, tell me. I really need some feedback here. Any ideas for what to do with the story are welcome too. I might not use them, but you never know.**

**Anyway, I'll see you guys whenever I decide to write the next chapter of this thing (which might be while because of exams), so... bye!**

**UI**


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